No More Hassles in 'Hassee

The state capital of Tallahassee epitomizes the entire Northwest region in several respects, all of which orbit around the theme of "catching up" – in this case, catching up to comparable university/state capital cities like Austin, Raleigh or Madison. Until very recently, a question to anyone in Tallahassee about the state's business climate might be interpreted as "How much business do you transact with the state?" Now, indeed, the nets are being cast for bigger fish – the kind that can benefit the whole state.
        Richard Kearney is president and CEO of Tallahassee-based Mainline Global Systems, the world's leading IBM reseller, with projected 2003 sales of over $100 million. He says the Tallahassee area is on the brink of a major breakthrough in how it approaches growth. It starts with talent – of both the employee and political variety.
        "It's not a problem for your entry to mid-level skills," he says of the area's labor pool. "The problem is upper management – we don't have it, and so it's a recruiting job to bring people in from the larger cities."
        Mainline has grown to more than 300 employees, just over 100 of them in Tallahassee. Kearney says the firm is on track to employ 375 by the end of 2003. Even more promising is his sideline into his own business park, Eastpoint, where all buildings are fully leased and more are on the drawing board.
        Wayne Harris, vice president of technology and development for the Tallahassee Economic Development Council, says the area has finally emerged from an anti-development rut that formed in the late 1980s. The positive shift is embodied in things like a one-cent sales tax, which has helped build up a fund for infrastructure and environmental mitigation projects.
        Kearney says the city is finally getting on the radar of its very own state legislators, as well as federal officials, when it comes to road improvements. At the same time, the state's loosening of development of regional impact requirements has "given us room to grow," says Kearney, and city and county officials are catching on to creative development methods to rival the creativity found in their city's New Economy work force. Next comes the buildup of venture capital.
        "We don't have the linkages for the commercialization of the research that's happening at FSU and FAMU (Florida A&M University]," says Kearney. "I keep telling people we have a 'nuclear power plant' over there, but we don't even have an extension cord into Tallahassee."
        Some power from that plant will undoubtedly emerge from the dynamic duo of Mag Lab (one of the world's premier sites for high magnetic-field research) and the Center for Advanced Power Systems, where $65 million worth of research devoted to switching Navy ships from steam to electric power systems may have some phenomenal spinoff potential for electric utilities, among others.
        Kearney says it's time for the "thought leadership" of the community to catch up with its cutting-edge research quotient – "In the venture capital world, they call it 'jumping curves,'" he says. One place those curves may be navigated is the proposed University Park, a 1,300-acre (526-hectare) parcel surrounding the current 200-acre (81-hectare) Innovation Park that would bring clusters of the academic and corporate variety onto the same grounds.
        Ray Bye, director of federal relations and economic development for Florida State University, says the project is a natural extension of the school's efforts to cast its research net a bit wider. The blending of funds from the National Science Foundation, military services and the National Institutes of Health, among others, has "telescoped" the process of technology development.
        "You look at places like Raleigh and Austin and Palo Alto, and they have strong economic development efforts primarily as a result of NSF research, which is a pretty good precursor," he says. FSU itself is already well on the way, having doubled its research budget in the past five years, and Bye says the University Park concept is just the next move needed to ride that wave.
        "Most of the land is publicly owned," he says. "What we're trying to do is put together the political coalition to get all of those jurisdictions at no cost, and at that point we would partner with a private developer." Bye says he hopes that a clear signal will be given to move forward on the project by this fall. "We think we have the blueprint in place, if we can just get the political will to provide the land."

Kay Stephenson, president and CEO of Datamaxx

        One place in Tallahassee with the land in place is St. Joe's Southwood development, where national law enforcement data coordination company Datamaxx has its corporate headquarters. Kay Stephenson, president and CEO of Datamaxx, says the company has plans to eventually double its space to around 62,000 sq. ft. (5,760 sq. m.), while also operating corporate offices in Illinois, West Virginia and Mississippi.
        "The company looked in the Atlanta and Orlando area prior to deciding to remain in Tallahassee," she says. "The real estate transaction consummated with Southwood was far superior to the other locations considered. In addition, the corporate executives believe that employee recruiting with two nationally recognized universities in Tallahassee allowed us to maintain a high quality of talent for our engineering and technological employee base – something critical to our overall success."
        Stephenson says her company has had good success with educational partnering.
        "FSU, FAMU and Tallahassee Community College intern programs are a tremendous source of talent," she says, "and once internships are completed, many apply for permanent employment."
        Asked if today marks a period of watershed change in the state capital, Stephenson says, "As long as the current momentum is sustained.
        "As long as local government officials and the business community work cooperatively, we can have growth without sacrificing the quality of life," she continues. Many CEOs, when visiting this area, decide on relocating based upon the question 'Would I want to live and raise my family here?' If the answer to that CEO's question is yes, then Tallahassee will create the type of business climate and planned growth that stimulates and builds a high quality of life for all of its citizens."